Any advice for wheat free diet?

[orangehead]

I am taking my 5 year old back of wheat, due to all his digestive problems. Anyway we are struggling a bit at the moment and trying to cut down on our shopping bill. The wheat free bread and pasta etc are alot more expensive and only contain small amounts. So I'm looking for cheap alternatives like using more rice, if any one has any ideas. Thanks

Espeacially alternatives for school pack lunches?

you can buy gluten free flour to make pancakes/biscuits etc

gram flour as well -

be careful with buckwheat - if he is coeliac he can't eat buckwheat or rye or barley as it is closely related.

polenta is quite cheap and alright fried in butter

I empathise - I only gave up last week and all of that freedom from stuff is expensive

try the coeliac website they have loads of ideas and products

buckwheat does not contain gluten. You can get buckwheat flour, which is slightly sweet and makes good pancakes. Some shops (and ASDA supemarkets) sell buckwheat to grind yourself. Doves flour makes reasonable gluten free bread in a breadmaker.

Has he been tested for coeliac? If he has and the test was negative you could try a digestive enzyme like Biocare Glutenzyme Plus from yourhealthfoodstore.co.uk or some of the enzymes at mandimart.co.uk I have tried the first one myself because when I'm away from home I find being gluten free difficult. Seems to work with small amounts of gluten, I'm still eating gluten free as much as possible. I'm told the enzymes don't work if you're coeliac and don't just have a lesser sensitivity.

www.allergycooks.co.uk often have good recipes (bourbon biscuits this month).

Good discussion of buckwheat here

www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/buckwht.html

thanks!

I was misinformed about that then by my consultant at the hospital!...shall have words when I go back in September

tatt..... how do the enzymes help? i not heard of them before. my ds is aergic to dairy, egs, nuts, wheat. would they be helpful to him?
do any of you use a bread maker to make GF bread? if so, what ingredients do you use?i want to start making my own to cut down costs.thank you

I read about enzymes as an alternative to a GF diet on the special need boards. I know they break down gluten but no more than that. For a child with a true allergy (i.e. high levels of IgE ) I doubt it would help but I don't know. Better to ask a doctor before trying it if they have a true allergy.

Doves bread flour has a recipe on the bag and that makes nicer bread than you will get in the shops. I find mine rather crumbly so the end tends to be eaten with soup. On the second day I slice any I'm not going to use quickly and freeze to use later.

I did try another recipe but it was a disaster so I stick to Doves now

tatt...you know i must be blind. i got bags of dove flour and never noticed the recipe!!how bad am i fab tip about freezing it. that was one reason why i was hesitating about making own, just thought it would go off to quick or that freezing it would ruin it.....really good to know it will be ok
think ill avoid enzymes for now. ill ask my dr when i next se him.

(very) ripe plantains slowly (shallowed) fried until yellow. The riper the plantain the sweeter it tastes fried.

Barmymmma I got the freezing tip here, just passing it on . They said it needed refreshing when defrosted (put in microwave or toaster briefly) but I just eat mine. It'n not quite the same but it's still edible.

I've made the recipe with rice milk instead of cows milk when we had a GF/CF child to stay so I know it'll work dairy free. Haven't tried it with soy milk.